Facebook will reportedly add end-to-end encryption to its Messenger platform. But that extra security comes at a cost to those who opt in: dumb bots.

As The Guardianreports, the feature could roll out sometime this year as an optional service. Facebook reportedly doesn't want to turn it on by default because it will mess with the chatbots the company showed off at f8 in April. Chatbot conversations go through Facebook servers, which analyze content and spit out the best response. But with end-to-end encryption, a message is only decrypted by the recipient or sender, so no chatting with those servers.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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As The Guardian notes, Google took a similar approach with its upcoming Allo app, which taps into the search giant's new Google assistant AI. In Allo's incognito mode, messages are encrypted end-to-end, meaning that the message is encrypted on the user's device, sent over an encrypted channel, and then decrypted on the recipient's device. Incognito messages will also trigger more subtle notifications, so the casual observer won't be able to read too much.

In April, Facebook's WhatsApp turned on full end-to-end encryption by default. The messaging service said the move will help protect messages from the prying eyes of cybercriminals, hackers, "oppressive regimes," and even WhatsApp itself. Rival Viber did the same a few weeks later.

Encryption landed WhatsApp in hot water in Brazil last month. A judge ordered providers to block WhatsApp in the region when the Facebook-owned service refused to turn over chat records related to a drug investigation. The same thing happened in December.

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